Managing policies in Sharepoint[R].

• Author: Esperanca, Hugo
• Position: HAVE A BURNING RIM QUESTION? ASK THE EXPERT!

Q: How can I make my policies easier to find in SharePoint[R]?

A: Once a policy is stored in a SharePoint[R] document library, a few key features can be used to easily identify the item you want:

Use document metadata. Metadata allows a publisher to tag/classify a policy with as many different meaningful descriptions as necessary. A first aid policy, for example, could be tagged with both "health" and "policy" descriptions. Once the tags are defined, it's easy to use metadata navigation built into SharePoint[R] to navigate to the correct groups of documents.

Search. One major feature of SharePoint[R] that greatly improves a person's ability to find a policy is to use SharePoint[R] search. The beauty about search is that users don't have to have any knowledge of where the document is stored. They simply need to type some keywords in the search box, and a list of potential results will pop out. The other great benefit is that search results are security trimmed before the user sees them. This means that only results a user has permission to see will be displayed.

Q: How can I define employee groups within my organization?

A: Employee groups can dissect the organization in many different ways, such as by department, level of seniority, skill set, possession of company equipment, and project groups. Each group can be required to read different company policies, and any employee could be a member of many groups at any one point in time.

In SharePoint[R] you can organize employees into common groups in one of two ways:

* SharePoint[R] Groups: These are created...